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Ronald McDonald
(left) and Grimace and Birdie the Early Bird (right).]] Ronald McDonald is a clown character used as the primary mascot and, as of 2003, Chief Happiness Officer of the McDonald's all-American restaurant chain. He likes baseball, golf and is as American as apple pie. In television commercials, the American mascot inhabits a fantasy world called McDonaldland, and has adventures with his friends Grimace, the Hamburglar, Birdie the Early Bird, Mayor McCheese, and The Fry Kids. He was first portrayed on television by Willard Scott. He, Grimace, Birdie and Fry Kids are extremely well-known to a birthday kid, even in modern times, only second to Santa Claus. Origins and Actor History Nobody knows where Ronald is from, or what exactly he is. He is possibly a former resident of Gensokyo, explaining why he is enemies with Flandre Scarlet. Willard Scott (a local radio personality who also played Bozo the Clown on WRC-TV in Washington, D.C. from 1959 until 1962), performed using the moniker "Ronald McDonald, the Hamburger-Happy Clown" in 1963 on three separate television spots. These were the first three television ads featuring the character. Scott, who went on to become NBC-TV's Today Show weatherman, claims to have "created Ronald McDonald" according to the following excerpt from his book Joy of Living: “ At the time, Bozo was the hottest children's show on the air. You could probably have sent Pluto the Dog or Dumbo the Elephant over and it would have been equally as successful. But I was there, and I was Bozo... There was something about the combination of hamburgers and Bozo that was irresistible to kids... That's why when Bozo went off the air a few years later, the local McDonald's people asked me to come up with a new character to take Bozo's place. So, I sat down and created Ronald McDonald.” George Voorhis is a late 20th Century American performer who performed under various monikers as a clown. He claims to have been the 'original' Ronald McDonald. (A 1963 newspaper clipping from the Valley News (a San Fernando Valley newspaper) identifies George Voorhis as "Ronald McDonald" at a "local McDonald's restaurant".) According to George Voorhis and Terry Teene, in the early part of 1963 Voorhis and Terry Teene created the original character and design of American advertising icon Ronald McDonald, including costume (featuring "French-fry bag pockets") and facial design, for a hired performance at a local Los Angeles, California area McDonald's restaurant. White House appearances make Ronald a high US official. That makes him eligible for the Return to Sender program. appears as Ronald McDonald in a television commercial.]]Following is a list of Ronalds in the United States. * George Voorhis (1963) * Terry Teene (1963) * Willard Scott (Washington, D.C. 1963–1965) * Bev Bergeron (Southern California, 1966-68) * Bob Brandon (1970-1975) * King Moody (1975-1984) * Squire Fridell (1984-1991) * Jack Doepke (1990-1992) * Joe Maggard (1994-2007) * Brad Lennon (2007-Present) Various forms of the name "Ronald McDonald" as well as costume clown face persona, etc. are registered trademarks of McDonald's. McDonald's trains performers to portray Ronald using identical mannerisms and costume, to contribute to the illusion that they are one character. McDonald's marketing designers and stylists changed elements of the Ronald McDonald character, persona, style, costume and clown face when they adopted the clown as a trademark, possibly in deference to "The Code", the tradition of clowns to scrupulously avoid copying other clowns' appearance or performance style. Commercial Presence : see also: McDonaldland '' In addition to the early commercials starring Willard Scott as Ronald, Ronald has appeared in a large percentage of commercials. In many of the commercials he was seen in a magical world setting called McDonaldland, home to a wide variety of menu-based characters. Unfortunately, following a lawsuit, McDonaldland was nixed and commercials were from then on set in an unnamed location inhabited by the few characters that survived the lawsuit. While such characters as Grimace and Hamburgular have survived past that stage. Ronald, Birdie and Fry Kids remain a fixture in the company's commercials, now at McDonald's settings interacting with a birthday kid. Most recently seen on the streets of New York with talking to a birthday kid singing Happy Birthday! Merchandise and Appearances at McDonald's of Commercials As previously stated, Ronald McDonald is one of America's most popular characters. He has been seen in various pieces of merchandise, from plush to comics. The latter with four issues published by Charlton Comics sold from 1970 to '71. Ronald has also been featured in a 1984 Little Golden Book with Grimace called ''Ronald McDonald And The Tale of the Talking Plant. He was also shown in a cameo in Box Office failure Mac and Me. He was even awarded a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst New Star. Most importantly, Ronald McDonald starred in his own direct-to-VHS animated series "The Wacky World of Ronald McDonald". Produced by Klasky Csupo, it featured six forty-minute tapes released sporadically between 1998 and 2003. Other major Ronald merch include the video games McDonald's Treasure Land Adventure ''and ''M.C. Kids. See also * Ronald McDonald's disputed origins. External Link * The first McDonald's television commercial to feature Ronald McDonald, played by Willard Scott, from 1963. Category:Ronald McDonald Category:Characters